


Control

by Oh_Toasty



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Altered Mythology, BAMF!Stiles, Banshee Lydia Martin, Creepy Uncle Peter Hale, Demons, Lydia Martin & Stiles Stilinski Friendship, M/M, Magic, Martial Arts, Original Mythology, Polish Mythology, Sheriff Stilinski's Name is John, Sparring, Stiles' uncle, Torture, learning, poland - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-24
Updated: 2016-02-07
Packaged: 2018-05-16 01:43:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5808493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oh_Toasty/pseuds/Oh_Toasty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles can do things, has always been able to do things. Things that shouldn't be possible, and so he hides what he can do. But as Scott drags them both deeper into the world of the supernatural, Stiles finds both the difficulty of hiding and his fear of his abilities growing. Driven by a need to understand Stiles goes to the one person who can teach him about himself, and returns a changed man.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

It started when he was four, he would say something and it would happen. He didn't know how, or why, all he knew is that one moment he was crying that his mom didn't get him the toy trains he wanted and then they appeared in his hands. Then, he had simply shrugged it off and went to go play with them, now he knew better. Now Stiles was careful about saying what he wanted, now he knew better; his mother had taught him better.

She'd begun as soon as she realized what was happening and by the time Stiles was seven he was mostly in control of his abilities. Somehow the two of them kept his ability from his father, Stiles fondly thinking of it as a game they were playing; though as time went past he wondered why it was a secret, why his mom wouldn't tell him.

He learned soon enough when his mother died. He'd been ten, sitting in the uncomfortable visitors chair parked besides his sick mother lying in a hospital bed. His father gone, off at work, and Stiles was left alone with his mom's sick feverish hands reaching out to clutch at him.

"It's got to be a secret," She mumbled. "You can't tell anyone, not even your father, he won't realize how dangerous it is!"

"Okay mom," Stiles agree softly as she stopped reaching for him and fell back into the bed. "I won't tell."

And that was it, with one last raspy breath Claudia Stilinski's life ended. But then Stiles spoke in a wavering voice, "No, Mom, you aren't dead, you can't be!"

Her body jolted upright as if she were electrocuted and her lungs and heart suddenly began to move again. For one short moment, Stiles thought everything would be okay. Then his mom looked at him and all Stiles could see was rage.

"Stop looking at me!" She screamed her spit flying through the air as she stumbled out of the bed. "Stop, I know you want to kill me, but I won't let you!"

She raised a hand and slapped Stiles across the face causing him to whimper in pain, "What are you doing?"

"I'm gonna kill you first," She grins her eyes so different than before her death.

Stiles sobbed quietly, "You aren't her! You aren't my mom!"

"Of course not," Claudia said raising her hand to hit Stiles again, "I'd never birth a monster!"

Stiles screamed as her finger nails dragged across his flesh and gasped out a command, "Get away from me!"

Slowly, his mother backed up until she was sitting on her bed again, and still hollering loud profanities at Stiles as he huddled in the corner.

"Stop," he sobbed and instantly the room fell silent. After a moment he finally looked up, tears still running down his cheeks, and saw his mother. She was sprawled out across her hospital bed, dead once again as Stiles' command stopped her heart.

As the doctors finally came rushing into the room Stiles stared, wide eyed. He finally understood why he couldn't tell his father, he'd want Stiles to brig back Claudia. Now Stiles knew better, he knew whatever came back from the grave it wouldn't be the same person as before.

Stiles didn't use his powers after that, he kept a tight reign over them until at the age sixteen his best friend turned into a werewolf and tried to attack him. Even then, Stiles only used his abilities to keep himself from serious injury and when he got home he had a minor panic attack.

It takes a week, but eventually Stiles came to the decision that he will use his abilities, but only in ways he knows wouldn't be abusing them. Mostly importantly, he swears he wouldn't bring anyone back to life even though there are dead bodies showing up more and more often.

Stiles is almost surprised when the use of his powers doesn't bring an end to life as he knows it. Then he remembers the times his mother had taught him control and he's reminded that it's probably only due to her that he hasn't hurt anyone the way he hurt her by returning her to life.

So Stiles uses his powers sparsely and for the most part acts as a regular human and allows the werewolves to do the real fighting. When they finally go up against Peter the only thing Stiles does is say that he and his friends will get through it alright. After all, Stiles reasons with himself, preventing a death isn't the same as reversing one.

His fear that they aren't really all that different only lasts a week before he decides that if something were going to happen it would've already. So Stiles counts it as a win and smiles as he realizes the threat is gone and he can stop using his abilities.

Of course then Derek builds a pack, a kanima peruses the town, Peter comes back to life, and a pack of Alphas comes to hunt them down. Still, Stiles does his best to avoid using his powers only using them twice as he mutters about not letting Derek an him drown an how, "The pack has to stay alive."

It's after Boyd and Erica have gone missing and he can only hope that it'll still help them out. He's kind of fond of Erica and has a sinking feeling that she needs protection at the moment.

When Derek and Scott finally locate the betas in the bank, it's a full moon. Discreetly, Stiles follows them there trying to ignore a feeling deep in his gut as it warns him that something is wrong. Stiles has just entered the bank when he gets a call from Peter.

"What?" Stiles snaps as he hears the crashing of the two wolves breaking into the back where Erica and Boyd are being held.

"Tell Scott and Derek to get out of there," Peter urges as he explains how the wolves have been deprived of the moon light.

"Got it," Stiles answers with a sharp nod before hanging up. When he finally reaches the vault he stumbles upon Scott and Derek fighting a stranger as well as Erica and Boyd.

"Don't notice me," Stile thinks and he imbues the thought with his power. Then he steps through the mountain ash circle just to ensure his power will reach the betas as he says, "Be normal."

They instantly relax though their wolf features don't recede.

"What was that?" The stranger asks as she rubs her head. "What stopped us?"

"I don't know," Boyd mutters as his amber eyes survey the room and pass right over where Stiles is standing.

Still, he takes that as his cue to leave, he doesn't know when his magic will wear off (or if it even will), but he decides it's better to be safe than sorry. He heads home and then straight for his bathroom where he throws up his dinner.

It's different, he thinks, controlling someone and making them do what he wants. Usually he just gets something with out forcing people, but this time it didn't work that way.

It doesn't matter to Stiles that all he did was stop them from killing Scott and Derek, he still feels horrible about the whole thing ands wonders if using his powers again is a bad idea.

"Dude," Scott says the next morning as he walks up to Stiles in the hallway. "Are you okay? You look like shit!"

"Fine," Stiles grunts as does his best not to think about last night. "Whats up?"

As Scott fills him in on what happened last night Stiles mostly gets lost in his own thoughts about how he should handle his powers. He could always ignore them the way he had until being dragged into the world of supernatural. Then again, if he did that he would feel guilty every time something happened to one of his friends.

"Anyway," Scott is saying as Stiles tunes back in. "The new wolf is Cora, Derek's sister."

"Really," Stiles asks, "I thought she was dead?"

Scott shrugs, "Apparently not."

And that's the end of their conversation. Time passes and Stiles finds the day goes by fairly quickly and until he leaves with out incident. Then he walks into the parking lot and finds Peter blocking his way.

"Excuse me," Stiles tries as he attempting to reach his jeep in vain. "Can you move?"

"What," Peter purrs, "No hello?"

"For a mass murder like you, no." Stiles says with a fake smile. "Now, can you get out of my way?"

"No," Peter replies with a smirk, "I don't think I will, I'd rather stay and talk."

"Fine, talk!" Stiles commands figuring it's the quickest way to make Peter leave.

"I heard the strangest thing this morning, apparently you never called Scott and told him about how the betas would be wild Dom the lack of moon light. Then Derek told something even more odd, the betas just randomly stopped snarling and regained control for no reason. I personally found that very odd so I went to the bank myself. I never imagined to smell that you had been there. Tell me, how'd you stop them?"

"I didn't," Stiles lies as he shoves Peter in hopes of getting to his car.

Peter stops him with one hand, "Now, now, don't think I can't tell you were lying just then."

"Get out of my way," Stiles commands and fear loosens his grip on his powers just enough to force Peter to step aside.

All the while the werewolf watches Stiles with curious eyes. Panic bubbles up inside of his chest as realizes he has basically just confessed to Peter about what he can do. This time he purposely imbues his words with power, "Don't tell anyone about this, and don't try to use me to your advantage!"

Stiles drives home in a frenzy as nausea builds deep with in him. He forced Peter to do something, and sure it had only been to protect his secret from a murderer, but he was still imposing his will upon others and who knows how that could them up. For all he knows it could destroy the fragile balance inside their heads the same way resurrection had destroyed his mother's. He needs to learn more about his ability and how it affects the universe.

That night Stiles pulls out his laptop and shoots a quick email to his Uncle Czeslaw. He hasn't actually been in contact with the man since he was five, but he can recall his mother gently whispering in his ear about how Czeslaw would help him if he ever needed it.

Later, when he's finally asleep, Stiles dreams about chess only his pawns are people and he laughs as he moves them as a sacrifice.

The first thing he does is check his email and sigh in relief as he sees his uncle has responded. Hurriedly, Stiles prints out what Uncle Czeslaw has sent him and shoves a bag filled with clothing.

Stiles gets into the jeep and drives along the route to school. Only, today he doesn't stop there, instead opting to continue driving all the way to the nearest air port, the plane ticket Uncle Czeslaw paid for crumpled in his hand.

As Stiles boards the plane to Poland he writes a letter in his head knowing it'll do as he wants and appear on the kitchen table. It reads:

_Dad,_

_You've probably noticed that I'm not home and I wasn't at school today. That's because I had to leave, I can't tell you why or where I went, but I want you to know that I love you and I'm safe. I'll try to come home soon._

_Scott:_

_You're like a brother to me and I'm sorry I'm leaving you now when I know things are tough. You can get through this, you have plenty of people in your side to help you._

_I love you all,  
Stiles_


	2. Chapter One

Three years later:

"Thanks for the offer Uncle Czeslaw, but I have to face my dad alone. But stay at that hotel you booked and I'll make sure to bring him over before you leave," Stiles says giving his uncle one last hug and kiss on the cheek as they step out of the airport. 

"I will see you soon," Czeslaw says his accent a thick burr. 

Stiles simply smiles at him before hiking his small backpack farther on to his shoulders and walking off in the direction of his father's house. Stiles smiles as he passes by the high school and allows himself a short moment to stop and wonder what it would've been like if he'd stayed and allowed himself to graduate here. Then he clears his head with a shake, he would've never learned proper control of his magic and would've been driven crazy quick enough. 

Stiles walks in and doesn't stop until he's standing in front of his father's door hand poised and ready to knock. Even then he only waits for a moment before hammering on the door. Perhaps he would've hesitated longer if not for the reassuring curl of his magic telling him he was right to return home. 

"Stiles," Someone gasps and he refocuses his eyes to see Melissa McCall standing in front of him. 

His eyebrows furrow in confusion, "Melissa?"

Before he can say more she's shouting, "John Stilinski get in here!"

He's already wrapped up in her embrace when his father walks in. There's a minute where all he does is stare wide-eyed before he lunges forwards and pulls the two of them into a group hug. 

"Stiles," John says his voice ragged with emotion. 

There's a sad smile on Stiles' face as he takes in how much older looking his dad has gotten in three years. He knows it's his fault, that his disappearance did this to his father but he can't bring himself to feel to much remorse even as he says, "Hey there, Dad."

As his dad disentangles from him and drags Stiles to the kitchen table he hears Melissa on the phone, "Scott get over here right now, Stiles is back!"

There's an odd mixture of dread and excitement in the pit of Stiles stomach as he thinks about seeing Scott again. His magic had allowed him to keep tabs on everyone while he was gone so he knew that the alpha pack didn't hurt him, but he would most likely still be angry at Stiles for abandoning him when he needed his friendship. Still, Stiles reasons with himself, there's nothing he can do now. 

"Where have you been?" John asks and his voice is so jam packed with emotion that Stiles doesn't know which one to cater to. 

So he looks at the table instead of his dad as he says, "Lets wait for Scott to get here, I don't want to have to explain myself to many times."

Melissa comes up behind the sheriff and places a gentle hand on his shoulder, "Alright Stiles, we'll wait."

"How about you guys tell me what's been going on around here?" Stiles suggests. "I know I've missed a lot."

"There's not much to say," John says his eyes still searching Stiles face for proof that this was really happening. "We looked for you, but we didn't find anything; the trail stopped as soon as your plane touched dirt in Poland. Besides that nothing much has happened in these past few years."

"I doubt that," Stile responds and he really does, even when he hadn't been in the country he'd felt the dark working of someone tampering with the Nematon. 

Then there's a loud tap on the door before Scott lets himself into the house and throws himself at Stiles. Somehow Stiles manages to stand upright before the werewolf can slam into him and he catches Scott with minimal pain and bruising. 

"Hey there buddy," Stiles grins. "How you been?"

"Awful," Scott mumbles into the junction where his neck meets his shoulder then he takes a step back from Stiles and swings his fist hard. 

Stiles winces as it connects with his jaw and sends out a quick spark of magic to make the pain go away. He decides to leave what he knows will be a spectacular bruise if only to discourage other people from taking the same route. 

Scott wraps him into another hug "Where were you?" 

"If you let me move we can all sit in the living room while I explain." Stiles answers gently pushing Scott off of him. He waits until their parents file past them before ducking down to whisper in Scott's ear, "Maybe next time don't use your werewolf strength in the punch."

"Maybe next time you shouldn't disappear for three years," Scott growls. "Anyway you don't have to be all discreet, they know about the supernatural world now."

"Really," Stiles asked his eyebrows raised. "I'll keep that in mind."

And he will. Because for now he isn't going to tell them about his magic, he can't. It won't be safe for them if they know the true extent of what he can do, soon enough people will come for him and if they know about his abilities they'll be targets also, yet another one of the reason he didn't come back until his magic convinced him to. 

"Explain," Stiles' dad says and he settles into an old recliner and stares at his son. 

"I went to Poland," Stiles began, "and I met up with Mom's brother, Uncle Czeslaw. He's a sort of Polish nomad, you could say, constantly moving around. He home schooled me until I was done with high school and then I signed up for an online college. I just finished my first year actually. Anyway, I mostly just traveled with Uncle Czeslaw and learned a little bit about life."

"But why did you leave," John asks his voice broken and raw. 

Stiles winces, "I was scared, so I ran away from the Alpha pack."

Scott's sharp eyes focus on him, "That was a lie."

"What," Stiles says as he curses internally as he realizes he's forgotten to focus on his heart beat. He been to wrapped in his own emotions to focus on his lie. 

"The part about being scared was true, so was the part about running away, but not the part about the alpha pack. You were running away from something different."

"No," Stiles says calmly carefully minister of his heart beat, "I wasn't."

There's a tense moment where Stiles stares deep into his friend's eyes and dares him to contradict him, but it's broken when Melissa lays a hand on his shoulder, "I for one, am just glad Stiles is back!"

"Glad to be back," Stiles says a smiles curving on his lips. "Though I am getting kind of tired, the time difference and all."

"Your room is still here, you know, if you want it," John offers and Stile heart breaks a little at how timid his father sounds. 

"Thanks Dad," Stile says swooping in to kiss his cheek, "I love you."

"Love you too," the sheriff whispers as he watches Stiles walk up the stairs with Scott trailing behind him. 

Scott and Stiles don't say a word to each other until they're both nestled securely in Stiles bed despite how much they've out grown it. Stiles buries his face into the pillow and mumbles, "Aren't you supposed to be at college?"

"No," Scott laughs, "Its summer break. Me and the pack are all back for now."

"Good," Stiles slurs as he tries to cover Scott's mouth with his hand never even raising his head to look. "Now sleep!"

When the two of them wake up in the morning their horribly over heated and fighting for room on the little bed. Eventually Stiles wins by pushing Scott off and quickly sprawling out on any and all bed space not covered. 

"You were talking in your sleep," Scott says suddenly and Stiles holds his breath in fear of what he'd said. 

Raising an eyebrow he snarks, "Care to elaborate or are you good with just that?"

"I don't know what you were saying it didn't sound like English." Scott say sounding put out.

"Probably Polish," Stiles mutters as he makes his way down to where he can smell bacon cooking. 

"Dad," Stile sighs in exasperation, "You know it isn't good for you!'

"Consider it a my son is actually alive celebratory breakfast." John says snacking on a piece of bacon. 

Stiles' mouth downturns into a slight frown, but he doesn't say anything else. It wouldn't exactly be fair of him to try and parent his father when he had run away from this home a long time ago. 

"Alright then," he allows. 

Scott and the Sheriff share a look seemingly surprised with his new ability to let things go. Stiles just smirks, while he had grown up a lot he would still remain stubborn on the things that matter the most to him. 

"After breakfast I should take you to meet up with Uncle Czeslaw," Stiles says around a mouthful of eggs. 

Scott frowns, "I can't go, I have to meet up with the pack."

"Okay," Stiles shrugs, "I can just take my dad and you can meet him later. I made him promise not to leave anytime soon."

"Fine," Scott pouts, "But you're driving me there."

"With what car," Stiles asks as he shoves a piece of bacon in his mouth. 

"The jeep is in the garage," the Sheriff admits, "And there's some gas in there somewhere if you want to take it."

"Thanks dad!" Stiles crows happily racing towards the garage. "I'll text you the hotel address when I drop off Scott."

"Come on," the werewolf was whining, "If we hurry I'll have time to introduce you to my girlfriend!"

"I'm coming," Stile replies clambering into the vehicle, "Where's this meeting at anyway?"

"Derek's place," Scott hums happily reaching over to fiddle with the radio. 

Stiles' eyebrow raises, "Is that the same loft was renting before or does he live somewhere else now? I don't knew everything Scott."

"Oh yeah," Scott murmured at the reminder that Stiles had missed so much. "He built a new pack house out on the Hale property. It's about three miles from the old one, follow the drive way and you won't miss it."

They drive along and chatter happily as Scott tells Stiles about how much he loves Kira. Stiles is tempted to ask what happened to Allison, but he doesn't want to reopen any old wounds if there are any. 

When they finally pull up to the pack house, Stile has just stepped out of his car to give Scott a hug good bye when a weight rams into him. As his back hits the ground Stiles feels a hand tightening on his throat. Luckily, Stiles had learnt more than just magic while he was away and he's able to flip his attacker off of him and onto the hard packed ground. From there he leaps back to his feet ready for the next attack. It doesn't come and Stiles doesn't know why until he sees Derek and Scott holding back Peter. 

"I think I'll go now," Stiles says with an awkward gesture back at his jeep. 

"Oh no Stiles," Peter says perfectly calm despite the fact that he was still being restrained. "Stick around, we'd love to have you."

"As much as I'd like you to stay," Erica pipes up, "Peter wanting you here is probably not good for your health."

"No, I don't think it is," Stiles agrees as he stares at Peter with a sinking feeling as the other man smirked. It seemed Peter still remembered that Stiles had used magic in him before. 

Climbing into his truck, Stiles waved, "Bye guys, I'll try and catch up with you later."

Surprisingly its Lydia who mutters angrily, "There won't be any trying, the two of us are going to to catch up, there's not try about it."

Pretending not to have heard her, Stiles begins driving towards the hotel and wonders what to do about Peter.


	3. Chapter Two

"I don't think I can do this," Stiles announces as he waltzes into his uncle's hotel room.

Czeslaw raises an eyebrow, "Do what?"

"Be here," Stile explains rubbing a hand over his face, "It hasn't even been twenty-four hours and I've already been attacked by someone who knows about my abilities!"

"Peter?" Czeslaw asks his voice tinged with amusement. "I've told you already, he won't say anything, you made sure of that before you left."

"Doesn't mean he won't kill me," Stiles mutters as he flops down onto the sofa.

Czeslaw rolls his eyes, "You are more than capable of facing him off. Need I remind you of the incident with the kikimora. Besides your magic called you back here for a reason, you know you can't leave. Now, have you texted your dad where the hotel is?"

"Yeah," Stiles mumbles, "He'll be here in five."

They spend the next few moments sitting around in a comfortable silence that comes from so much time spent together. Stiles just drifting off to sleep on the couch when there's a sharp rap on the door.

"I've got it," Czeslaw calls as he opens up the door only to receive a punch to the nose.

Stiles hears the sound of bone crunching and jumps to his feet his hands already raised defensively. Then he hears his uncle laughing cheerily, and wrapping the man at the door in a hug.

"Hello John," Czeslaw boomed, "I'm assuming the punch was for keeping Stiles for so log and not telling you?"

"Got it in one," The Sheriff agrees as he makes his way over to the sitting area. "Now, tell me all about what you two were up to in Poland."

Stiles lets Czeslaw take the lead and watches as the two men exchange stories about his antics, though his uncles are heavily altered so they don't feature the supernatural. Stiles grins as he watches them glad to see the two parental figures in his life getting along.

"I have to go," John says an hour or so after his arrival, "I've got a shift coming up."

The say their goodbyes and Stiles notices how extra tight his father's hug is and makes a mental note to send more quality time with him. Soon enough though his father is gone and Czeslaw is turning a judgmental look on Stiles.

"He could handle the truth you know."

"About the supernatural?" Stiles asks, "I know that. He already know about it all."

Czeslaw's eyebrows raise, "Then why are you hiding your magic from him, from everyone really?"

"I thought I told you," Stiles murmurs scrunching his nose as he attempts to recalls.

"No, you didn't" his uncle assures him.

"I was going to," Stiles confesses, "But some part of my magic told me not to. It told me not to tell anyone."

"Interesting," Czeslaw hums rubbing his chin. "Make sure you're on the look out for why that may be."

"I will be, constant vigilance," Stiles quotes earning himself an unimpressed glare.

"Get out of here," Czeslaw mutters, "go hang with your friends, please be anywhere but here."

"Rude," Stiles gasps but he's already half out the door as he calls, "Bye Uncle C."

When he heads out to get some curly fries the last person he expects to run into is Lydia Martin. He hadn't even realized she was in the diner and wonders briefly of his wards are slipping. Then he reminds himself that he'd turned his pack wards off when he met up with them earlier, not wanting to see how they felt about his return. Stiles looks at Lydia but makes no move to approach her, instead assuming that she would opt to speak to him later. It seems that he's wrong, because Lydia is approaching him as he sits down in the little diner.

 

"Why'd you really leave," Lydia asks sitting down with out any preamble. "And don't tell me that crap you told Scott, I know you didn't leave because of the alpha pack."

"Hello to you too, Lydia. I'm great thanks for asking," Stiles snarks as she lifts an eyebrow and waits him out. "Anyway, that is the reason that I left."

"No it isn't," Lydia says but her eyes soften, "Whatever it is, you can tell us. Whenever you're ready."

"You'll be the first to know when the time comes," Stiles promises because deep down he can sense the truth of that statement.

Lydia's eyes search his face for a moment, surprised as his easy confession that there was something to tell. Then she nods, they all have their secrets and she won't push Stiles for this one.

Instead she steals one of his fries and says, "You're coming to the pack house when you're done eating. We got Peter to promise to leave you alone and Scott really wants you to meet Kira."

"I have a feeling that I don't have a choice," Stiles sighs finishing off his fries and standing up. "Do you need a ride or are you good?"

"A ride please," Lydia responds grabbing her purse. "I'd love to see Erica's face when she realizes I got caught up with you before she did."

Stiles walks outside and towards his jeep as he answers, "We haven't caught up though."

"Not yet," Lydia huffs as she plops into the jeep, "We'll do it on the way there."

Stiles laughs and as he pulls out of the parking lot asks how she's been. This leads to her complaining about how the supernatural has change everything, but he can hear the affection in he voice and knows that she loves her pack. They spend the rest of the trip conversing happily and Stiles gets out of his car feeling glad that he spent some alone time with Lydia. He doesn't have a crush on her, hasn't for a long time, but he still likes her as a friend and it's nice for him to see that she feels the same.

The entire pack is standing in the front yard by the time Stiles shuts his door. They appear to have been waiting and Stiles lets a grin slide out over his face.

"You guys hear the jeep coming or something," he asks walking his way towards them even as he pinpoints Peter's location off to the left and stores it in his mind. He isn't looking for a fight but the past couple years have taught him it doesn't hurt to be prepared.

"Yeah," Isaac laughs his blond curls bouncing as he nods, "And-"

Erica cuts him off holding up a phone, "And Lydia text me."

Stiles leans over to peer at the phone and laughs as he reads the simple message, _I got him first_.

"Its okay Catwoman," Stiles winks. "I'll always be yours!"

She fake swoons and Boyd rolls his eyes at them as Derek speaks, "As entertaining as this all is, we should move inside."

"Oh goodie," Stile responds rubbing his hands together. "I haven't seen the inside yet."

Scott runs over to Stiles and drops an arms around his shoulders, "You'll love it, but first I'd like you to meet Kira."

"Yeah man, sure!" He exclaims shrugging of Scott's arm and turning around in a circle, "Where's the lucky lady?"

"Here," a light feminine voice said as a hand was presented for him to shake. "It's nice to meet you Stiles, Scott talks about you a lot."

"By a lot she means he won't shut up," someone says and Stiles turns surprised to see that it was Derek who had spoken.

Stiles grins at the older man as he clutches his heart dramatically, "Even in the arms of another he still longs for me."

"And there's the Stiles we know," Lydia remarks as she looks down on her manicure in boredom. "Annoying and overly dramatic."

"I like it," Erica proclaims sweeping Stiles into a hug.

Boyd snorts, "You would, it reminds you of yourself."

Erica scowls in mock anger as she releases Stiles, "How dare you?"

Stiles watches the whole interaction with interest enjoying seeing how the pack bonds have grown since his departure. Suddenly, Stiles feels a gaze on him and, anticipating Peter, he turns his head. Surprisingly its Derek watching him and Stiles briefly wonders if the alpha doesn't trust him around his pack. It makes sense, if someone randomly disappeared for three years and then came back with a flimsy excuse as to why, he'd be nervous around them too.

"I have an idea," Scott says breaking Stiles' attention away from Derek. "We should all do something together. That way Stiles can fill us in about the past couple years all at once."

"There's no need for that," Stiles dismisses, "I didn't really do anything except home school with Uncle Czeslaw."

Isaac shrugs, "It was still in Poland. That's pretty cool."

"Yeah," Peter says his tone mocking, "Tell us all about it Stiles."

"I don't want to take anytime away from what ever you guys normally do," Stiles says with a slight flare in Peter's direction.

Shockingly, or maybe not seeing as how she'd already agreed to wait for more information, it's Lydia who comes to his rescue.

"He's right you know," She says looking at the pack. "You guys would normally be training right now."

Scott pouts, "But Stiles can't do that with us!"

"Sure I can," Stiles replies because he hates Scott's puppy-dog eyes and there's no feeling that says he can't show them some hand to hand.

Everyone looks a little skeptical at that and Derek's eyebrows seem to be especially high. Stiles sighs heavily and rolls his eyes, "I don't mean with the actual wolf part, but i do know some martial arts now, or did you not notice the fact that I defended myself against Peter earlier."

"We, uh, kinda thought he let you do it," Scott confesses.

Peter snorts, "No, Mr. Stilinski did all of that on his own."

Stiles looks back over at Peter and wonders why he's confessing to that. He could have some ulterior motive or he could simply be curios as to how this plays out. With Peter it could be either one.

When Stiles looks back over at Derek he sees that his eyebrows have gone down, they're furrowed now. He appears to be making a decision about whether or not they should train together.

"We probably should spar with him," Kira confesses. "We've all gotten better at hand to hand, but part of that's because we know each other's styles. Sparring with Stiles should present a new challenge, especially if they can't use their werewolf abilities."

Much their surprise, he is a new challenge. When Stiles fights the goofy, awkward exterior disappears and leaves behind someone much more calm and lethal. He fights Erica first, at her insistence, as the others watch to try and learn his weaknesses before they spar.

Fighting with Erica is fun, she's wild and unpredictable, but she's also small and lethal so Stiles opts to simply treat her as if they were boxing. Erica retaliates with sweeping arcs of her legs and other similar moves. She has no real plan of attack until she's already striking out at him. Unfortunately for her, that also means she doesn't consciously remember to block herself and Stiles gets in a right hook to the nose and feels the bone break beneath his knuckles.

One of her hands flys up to grab at it as she grunts, "Okay, good punch, I surrender."

Stiles laughs and drops his stance hurriedly, "Make sure you set that before it heals. Now, who's up next?"

"Me," Isaac calls bouncing on the heels of his feet. He slides over to Stiles with grace before striking up a position. When Derek calls go, Isaac sends a punch directly towards Stiles' face obviously expecting him to deflect it in the same style he would have in the last match he'd fought. However, Stiles had already switched to jiu-jitsu and easily caught Isaac's punch using. Using his own momentum against him Stiles maneuvered Isaac's arm into an armlock behind his back.

"Surrender, or I dislocate your shoulder," Stiles huffs with a small grin.

There's a moment of silence before Isaac mutters, "I surrender."

Stiles lets him go instantly and takes a step back. Isaac turns to look at him with new respect in his eye as he laughs, "You're good Stiles."

"Thanks," Stiles shrugs, "But you could've won if you'd been using your werewolf strength."

Isaac shrugs, "Wouldn't be fair though."

Eventually Stiles has sparred with everyone sans the girls and Peter. Scott had been the easiest for him to take down, even after three years he still has the exact same tells as before. Boyd had taken the longest out of all the betas and he had almost gotten Stiles out twice before the human got him down. With Derek though, the fight was long and hard. They danced about each other gracefully, matching the others skill with ease. They had been sparing for twenty minutes when Derek finally managed to flip Stiles over his shoulder and onto the ground (much the same as Stiles had done to Peter).

"I surrender," Stiles wheezes as he stares up at the bright sun.

It is quickly blocked out by Derek's head as he leans over the younger man and holds out a helping hand, "You good?"

"Great," Stiles mutters as he's pulled to his feet.

"You lasted a long time," Derek remarks as they follow the pack inside. "You're good at this."

"Nah," Stiles snorts, "You just aren't used to going at it with only human strength."

"Still," Derek says, "Come around tomorrow, we'll train with you again."

Stiles smiles up at Derek, "All right, I'd like that."


	4. Chapter Three

It's been a several weeks and over time Stiles, daily training with the pack has shifted into him simply spending the whole day with them. They've settled into a sort of routine where Stiles will simply lounge about the house all day with who ever is home. He's grown closer to all of them through it. 

Scott, he learns, hasn't changed much and is still a giant puppy. Boyd loves to bake a hobby Stiles hadn't envisioned for him. Isaac is fiercely loyal and will curl up along side Stiles and force him to watch movies from the last three years (he didn't watch TV in Poland). Erica still loves batman and she'll sit with Stiles while they read comics and just talk. Lydia is as much as a genius as he remembers and she's the only pack member who attends a different college than the rest (if she admits to Stiles that she misses them fiercely then that's nobody's business). Peter, while still messed up, isn't as bad as he was as an alpha and he even smiles genuinely at one of Stiles' jokes. Derek isn't the same as he was, he smiles more and he's brought the pack together in a way Stiles never imagined could happen. Stiles tries to unite how his heart flutters a little every time Derek smiles, instead he focuses on the entire pack. He loves them and knows he's readily agree to be in their pack if they would have him, which Stiles knows they are almost ready to ask. 

Which is probably why it isn't even considered out of the norm that Stiles is currently lying on his stomach reading as Lydia, Kira, and Erica use his back as a pillow. Scott has his head resting on Kira's stomach and Isaac and Boyd lay on Lydia and Erica respectively. Some of them are conversing quietly while others nap but they all appear to be enjoying there time together. Situated up in an arm chair is Derek, who's curled up reading a book just like Peter is from where he is sprawled out on the couch.

Stiles is turning the page in his book when Peter speaks and breaks through the peaceful aura by saying, "You know Stiles, I no longer have the urge to kill you."

"Thank you," Stiles responds with a smile before he turns back to his book. 

Erica sputters, "What, thank you that's it?"

"You don't even want to ask why he wanted to kill you?" Scott wonders his voice slowly increasing in pitch. 

"No," Stiles says with a shake of his head. "I already know."

Even Boyd looks confused at that and asks, "Wait, what? You mean he had an actual reason?"

"Eh," Peter hedges, "It depends on how you look at it. I think Stiles just meant he understood my reasoning."

"Thank you Peter," Stiles says nodding at the older man, "That's exactly what I meant."

"I don't even want to know," Derek mutters looking up to the sky as if asking or guidance. 

Peter and Stiles go back their books and ignore everyone's persistent nagging. They've said all they want to say and they won't say anything else. Eventually Lydia gets them to shut up with the threat of taking them out to hold her bags as she shops. Soon after they all drift off to sleep on top of one another.

When they wake up its to a sharp rap on the front door. Sleepily, Derek pushes his way past the mound of betas and towards the door. When he opens it he's surprised to find a man who appears to be more beard than skin. 

"I need to talk to Stiles," The man grunts, "Tell him it's Uncle Czeslaw."

Derek turns to call out to Stiles, but he's cut off by the man himself, though his speech is still a sleepy mumble, "No need, I heard him. What's up Uncle C?"

"We need to go Stiles," Czeslaw insists his eyes wide and buggy out of his head. 

Stiles snaps to attention and looks over his Uncle intensely, "What's going on?"

"They're here," Czeslaw cries a whimper tearing out of his throat. "They're coming!"

A shiver ran down his spine as Stiles turned to Derek, "Go get one of your betas."

"Why," Derek asks his brows furrowed as he attempts to understand what's going on. 

Stiles back at his uncle whose pacing on the front porch, "You won't be able to take him down alone. Especially since I don't want you to hurt him."

Derek looks suspicious, but heads towards the living room anyway. Once he's sure that Derek is out of sight Stoles steps forwards and places a hand on his Uncle's forehead drawing all of offensive magic out of him. He bucks under the added weight but keeps on going to insure that Czeslaw won't hurt any of the pack members. 

Stiles has just stepped away from his now enraged uncle when Derek and Boyd round the corner. Stiles doesn't waste a moment to smile at them instead he is to busy dodging the punches Czeslaw is throwing his way. 

"A little help," Stiles grunts as Czeslaw gets in a right hook to his gut. 

The wolves leap into action their eyes glowing, but their claws and fangs aren't visible. The struggle is brief, but violent and Stiles is sure that every single one of them got thrown into the wall at least twice. 

When they've finally subdued him Boyd keeps Czeslaw down while Derek approaches Stiles. "What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know," Stiles sighs pinching the bridge of his nose as he leaves out his idea. "Knowing Beacon Hills though, it's probably something supernatural."

"We can keep him In our cell until we know what's wrong," Derek offers. 

Stiles nods, "Yeah, that'd be nice. Wait, why do you have a cell?"

Derek gestures for Boyd to follow as he winks at Stiles and says, "It's Beacon Hills."

Stiles hesitates momentarily before shrugging. When Derek puts it like that it kind of makes sense. 

"Alright, put him in the cell." Stiles allows, "I'll come visit him later."

"What are you doing now?" Derek asks suspiciously as Boyd carts Czeslaw away. 

Stiles rolls his eyes, he can practically feel Derek's protective nature roiling off of him, "I'm gonna go do some research, see why he was acting so crazy."

"Okay, but if research entails going to visit his hotel room at least take a pack memes with you. If something targeted him it could still be hanging around." Derek replies his eyes narrowing as if he suspects Stiles will ignore him. 

"Fine," Stiles says with a huff. He doesn't even change volume as he says, "Peter, I know you're eavesdropping, come here."

A few moments later Peter turns the corner and smiles at Stiles, "It's not my fault really, supernatural hearing."

Stiles just snorts and turns back to Derek, "There I have a chaperone, can I leave now?"

"I'll never understand your relationship," Derek huffs and walks out without another word causing Stiles to grin widely. Annoying Derek will always be fun, he decides as Peter and him make their way to the jeep.

The rest in comfortable silence until Peter decides they're out of earshot and asks, "Are you going to be working magic? I'm assuming that's why you chose me."

"Yeah," Stiles admits with out even an ounce of guilt. He knows Peter doesn't mind, in fact the wolf probably prefers knowing Stiles motives are self-serving, "I'm just gonna cast a spell on the room to see if it left a magical signature. If it did, then I'll go home and do some actual research on that."

Peter hums in acknowledgement and they're getting out of the jeep and entering the hotel when he speaks again, "Why don't you want the others to know? The only reason they haven't made you pack is because they can sense that you're withholding information."

"I know," Stiles admits as he opens the door to Czeslaw's room. He does know, he really does but he also knows that he can't tell them yet. There's some part of his magic that says the time isn't right. "The time isn't right though." 

"Interesting," Peter remarks as Stiles moves about the room tracing wards and sigils, "You're much more at ease with your magic now."

Stiles nods, "I've learned a lot over the last couple of years."

"Well then little boy, impress me." Peter demands. 

Stiles smirks and stretches out his arms towards the sigils he had drawn in the air. Then he yanked in and all of the magical aura of the room floated in towards him as purple haze. 

"Moi Bogowie, it's Południca," Stiles swears as he allows the magic to disperse. 

Peter's eyebrow raises, "I'm sorry, what is it?"

"Not what, who, Południca." Stiles grunts, "She's called a noon demon or Lady Midday. I don't know why she's here though, I've never heard of her leaving East Europe."

Peter shrugs lazily, "Perhaps she followed you back?"

Stiles freezes, "No, not me. Uncle Czeslaw, she must have latched onto his magic before we left."

"What do you mean latched onto his magic?" Peter asks his gaze sharpening. It's obvious to Stiles that Peter its at least partially because he's wondering if there is a way he could use her to his advantage. 

"Pułudnica's goal is to find powerful people and drive them mad. Usually she stays out in the fields and toys with boys which is why she gets mistaken for heatstroke." Stiles lectures, "She must have detected my uncles power and decided to target him. Now, in his insanity he's led her straight to your pack and they partially shifted in front of him. She's going to target all of them."

"Them," Peter questions. "Why not me? Am I not powerful enough for her?"

Stiles can see the rage in Peter's eyes at the imagined slight and he works quickly to reassure him, "No that's not it!"

"What is it then!" Peter growls showing a little bit of fang as his claws elongate. 

Stiles runs a hand over his face, "I already told you she gains power over people with mental torture and driving them to insanity. She doesn't have that advantage with you, you're already crazy."

Peter laughs heartily as he recognizes the truth in the statement. It seems the fire has given him one good thing. Then he realizes that power includes Stiles's magic. 

"What about you," Peter asks, "Won't she be attracted to your magic?"

Stiles grimaces, "I'm not sure actually. I don't think she realizes I have it; I haven't used magic around Uncle C since before we left for America and she doesn't eavesdrop on conversations, just waits for power flares. Although if she thinks there's more power available to her she isn't above mentally torturing her victims to get it."

"Great," Peter hums. "Now, I assume we're returning to your house for research purposes."

"Yup," Stiles agrees as he grabs Peter's sleeve and drags him forwards. "Let's go."

They go to Stiles' room and luckily avoid running into the Sheriff who would have wasted valuable time asking questions. Peter had only just sat down on the bed when Stiles threw several books at him. 

Peter raises an eyebrow, "What do you want me to do with these?"

Exasperated, Stiles answers, "Read them!"

"How, they're in Polish!" Peter responds pushing them off to the side. 

"Then skim them for her name," Stiles suggests, "You don't have to know Polish to recognize the name Południca."

Peter grumbles, but picks up a book. Hours later, as he skims through his second book, Peter's eyes stumble across the name Południca. After a moment of staring he remembers to call Stiles over for translation. The younger boy comes quickly and his frown grows with every moment he spends reading the book. 

Eventually he slams the book shut, "We need to go talk to the pack."

"Bad news?" Peter asks from where he's sprawled across the bed. 

"Yeah," Stiles nods, "Bad news."

They get into the jeep and begin the drive back to the pack house; the only noise in the vehicle is Peter on the phone with Derek asking for a pack meeting.

Stiles isn't really listening until Peter yells, "God damnit Derek, just call the meeting! It's not even for me it's for Stiles."

There a short pause as Derek says something into the line and Peter smirks and then they hang up. Stiles just raises his eyebrows. 

"What was that about?" He asks curiously. 

"Nothing," Peter smiles sweetly as he throws the phone into the cup holder and kicks his feet up on to the dashboard. "Anyway, you'll get your pack meeting."

"Good," Stiles says observing Peter out of the corner of his eye, "Now get your feet off my dash."

"Yes mom," Peter says mockingly and despite the fact that everyone he knows is in danger Stiles smiles as he realizes Peter's mocking means he thinks of him as pack.


	5. Chapter 5

"What's going on?" Derek asks materializing at Stiles side as he steps out of the car and discreetly checking him over for injuries. 

Stiles barely manages to hide his pleased flush at the proximity and the attention that Derek is giving him, "I'll tell you at the meeting, where is everyone anyway?"

Derek huffs in annoyance, "They're inside waiting for us."

"Lets go then," Stiles responds pushing past Derek and into the house. Peter smirks as he falls in at Derek's side and watches Stiles hurry away. 

"Are you sure you could handle all that?" He asks mockingly. In response Derek shoves him and if Peter hadn't been expecting it he would've tripped and fallen. As it is Peter simply cackles and walks into the pack house muttering about how Derek should just go for it. 

Derek grumbles a little under his breath when he walks into the room and sees all of his betas smirking at him. It's obvious they'd overheard what Peter said and Derek fights the flush that's attempting to rise on his cheeks. Stiles just looks between them and Derek with a confused pout. 

"Do I want to know what's happening?" He asks. 

"No," Derek says quickly before any of the betas can tell him what they're thinking. 

It doesn't matter because Stiles attention is quickly ripped away by the importance of the meeting, "It doesn't matter, we've got more important things to talk about."

"Yeah, why'd you call us here anyway," Isaac asks from where he's sprawled across Erica and Boyd. 

"Alright, You may want to take a seat Derek," Stiles says before launching into an explanation similar to the one he'd given Peter earlier. 

Eventually, Stiles rant winds down and Peter cuts in, "Now that you're all caught up Stiles can fill us in on what he learned just before we came here."

Derek's eyes cut over to Stiles, "There's more?"

"I figured out how to stop Południca," Stiles announces, but he still has a frown on his face. 

Peter's eyebrows furrow, "Shouldn't that be a good thing? You seemed upset when we left the house."

"It's gonna be another two weeks before I can even start the process to stop her," Stiles admits. 

Derek's eyebrows raise, "Why will it take so long?"

"We need this special fire flower that only blooms at midnight on the eve of Kupala." Stiles explains knowing exactly how strange it sounds. 

"Right, so what happens to us while we wait?" Isaac asks worriedly as he opts to ignore what Stiles has said. 

Stiles refuses to make eye contact with everyone, "She comes after you guys."

"Alright," Derek says taking over the situation, "We need to know everything we can so that we can defend ourselves. Stiles, do you have any idea about who she'll target first?"

"Yeah," Stiles tells them as he sits down on the ground in front of Derek and rubs his eyes. "She's going to go after you and Boyd because she saw your shifts and is sure about your power. Then she'll go after the rest of you wolves, except of course Peter."

"What about you and Lydia?" Scott asks his protective nature appearing. 

"We'll be fine as long as Lydia isn't outed as a banshee. If she thinks we're plain old human we'll be here last targets and she won't have reached us by the time we stop her."

Derek nods, "Alright, if me and Boyd are going to be the first targets what symptoms should we be on the look out for?"

Stiles hums, "It'll start as a pain of the neck, over time you'll start experiencing heat stroke symptoms, then she'll start driving you mad and she'll steal information about who has power to find out her next targets."

"Alright," Derek frowns, "When the insanity sets in you'll have to lock us in our rooms with a mountain ash circle."

"If Południca's mental torture helps her choose which people are powerful enough to attack what's to stop one of us from telling her what Lydia is?" Boyd questions. 

"Don't worry about that," Stiles says with a feral grin that sends a shudder down Derek's spine. "I have that covered. Połidnica isn't really as powerful as she seems the most she can force you to admit is that there's a banshee around here; she can't make you say who. Afterwards she searches for that particular species in close proximity to you using a magical vine she pulls from your mind. However, she doesn't have a name or an image of who it is, because of that if we hide Lydia's magical vibe Południca won't be able to figure out that she's a banshee. Unfortunately, that same trick doesn't work for werewolves, because they're considered dark creatures."

When Stiles finally cuts off his rant, he notices that the entire pack is staring at him. Lydia has an eyebrow raised and Peter is shaking his head and laughing silently. 

"The book I read was really detailed," Stiles says in a poor attempt to lie about his source of knowledge. "Anyway, I'm gonna take Lydia over to my house and help her hide her magical trace."

Peter is silently laughing at Stiles attempts at discretion but still distracts the pack for him, "While Stiles is gone we should check everyone for symptoms."

As Stiles drags Lydia out of the house an towards his jeep he overhears Derek say, "No symptoms yet," and sighs in relief. 

"So," Lydia purrs as they pull out of the drive way. "Does all your information on the Południca have anything to do with the secret your been keeping?"

"Yes," Stiles admits, "Looks like it's time for me to tell you the truth. I have magic, that's why I left Beacon Hills. I was scared about what I could do and I went to Czeslaw so he could teach me. There, we were basically supernatural cops who monitored all the creatures."

"I don't know what I was expecting," Lydia mutters, "But that wasn't it."

"No," Stiles laughs, "I don't think anyone expects that!"

Lydia nods slowly as she thinks, "So are you going to use magic to hide my magical trace?"

"Yeah," Stiles responds as he pulls into his driveway. "It shouldn't be to hard I just need to get some supplies."

"Are you doing it to yourself too?" Lydia asks, "So that she doesn't realize your abilities?"

"No," Stiles snorts, "The spell wouldn't work on me. That's probably why my magic insisted I keep it a secret, so the pack couldn't out me as a magic user."

"Wait," Lydia stops him as he opens the door to the house. "Are you implying that your magic is sentient?"

"Maybe the driveway isn't the best place for this conversation to take place," Stiles says as his eyes roam over the street in a suspicious way that's so similar, but also so different from the way Stiles did before he left. He'd always been paranoid, but now he seemed much more confident that he could take on what ever was lurking in the dark. 

When the two of them finally end up Stiles' room and Lydia is sprawled across the bed, Stiles looks in his closet for his messenger bag. Lydia waits for a moment as if waiting on Stiles before giving up and speaking first. 

"So you never answered my question," Lydia says raises one eyebrow. 

"Hmm," Stiles murmurs as his head pops out of the closest. "Oh yeah, you asked if magic is sentient. The answer is not quite; it isn't exactly alive, but on some matters it has an opinion and I always just know what it is."

Lydia flips over so that her head hangs off the side of the bed as she speaks, "I guess that makes as much sense as any of this magic stuff does. What are you looking for anyway?"

"My bag," Stiles muffled voice rises from where his head is once again buried deep in the closet. "It has the ingredients for the spell to hide your banshee side."

"Should I even ask why you already have those ingredients?" Lydia questions. 

Stiles rolls his eyes, "I brought them from Poland, they're actually pretty common spell ingredients so there's no reason not to have them around."

Stiles finally pulls a canvas messenger bag out of the closet. Dragging it over to the bed, Stiles mutters under his breath and roots around in it. 

"What ingredients are you looking for?" Lydia wonders as she grabs the bottle Stiles hands her. 

Passing her another bottle Stiles answers, "Garlic cloves, coriander,   
and anise."

Lydia smacks the back of his head, "You can literally get all of that in the kitchen, why are you hoarding it in your bag?"

Pouting, Stiles jerks away, "I brought it from Poland how was I supposed to know if my bad had it all in the kitchen. Besides, that's the common stuff, I have other less common things also."

Lydia rolls her eyes, "Sure Stiles, now get on with the spell so we can get back to discussing the fact that you're a witch."

"Eww," Stiles groans, "I am not a witch. I'm a spellbinder- my magic comes from my words for the most part."

Lydia looks down at the bottles the Stiles is slowly pouring out into his hand, "Then why do you need the herbs?"

"They're natural protective herbs," Stiles responds. "Come stand over here now."

Lydia does as she's been instructed and Stiles walks around her in a circle releasing the pile of herbs while humming. Then he mumbles under his breath saying words that she can't hear. 

"Alright," Stiles adds at an normal volume as he steps away from the circle. "I have a couple more chants to do and then your magical trace will be hidden."

"Go for it," Lydia sighs checking her nails. "But could you do it quickly, I don't want to stand here all day."

"Alright," Stiles laughs before raising his hands and chanting loudly in a foreign language. 

Lydia listens closely in an attempt to determine what it is, but gives up eventually. It's most likely Polish, she guesses, after all that's where he had learned his magic. 

Her attention is quickly torn from the words as a blazing blue light rises from the circle of herbs and shoots up around her. Twisting around, Lydia quickly discovers that the tunnel of light surrounds her completely. She worries for a moment before calming herself with a reminder that this is Stiles and he wouldn't hurt her even if he is different now. 

"Lydia," Stiles whispers and it sounds as if he's right next to her ears. "I need you to scream."

"What?" She cries out feeling slightly frightened by this show of power. 

Stiles is speaking to her again, "Scream Lydia, you're a banshee, it's what you do."

She nods before taking a deep breath and letting out a scream that pierces through the air. A pulse of energy goes through the wall of light and then suddenly it's gone and Lydia is on the floor and confused as to how she got there. 

"You alright," Stiles asks as he holds out a hand to help Lydia stand up. 

She grabs it and hoists herself up blinking at how woozy it makes her, "Is it supposed to make me feel dizzy?"

"Yeah," Stiles tells her as he escorts her over to the bed, "It's because your banshee magic is usually reaching out towards the spirit world and tendrils of it are outside of your body. Now, the spell has shoved it all back inside of you and your body isn't used to all that power being so close together."

"I see," She mutters sitting down. "Don't think this gets you out of telling me about your magic, you can explain to me what it means to be a spellbinder."

"Of course," Stiles agrees as he settles down next to her. He thinks back to the day Czeslaw explained his magic to him and launches into the same explanation. He's as exuberant as always which is probably the only reason Lydia stays up as log as she does. However, she drifts off soon enough and Stiles leans down to place a kiss to her forehead. 

"Get some rest." He whispers, "We've got a hard couple weeks coming up."


	6. Chapter 6

It's been two weeks and Isaac, Peter, Lydia, and Stiles are the only pack members left unaffected by Południca. The rest of the pack is locked down in the cells Derek had built for when the betas were still learning control. From there, there's also a mountain ash circle around them that Lydia and Stiles cross only to give them food and water. 

"I think I should go down to the cells," Isaac gasps suddenly his eyes going wide as he stares at something no one else can see. 

Stiles' attention snaps towards him, "Why, what's happening?"

"She's right here whispering in my ear, asking about you guys." He answers turning and walking down the stairs. 

Peter follows him walking alongside Stile, "Yeah, definitely time for you to go in the cage."

Isaac settles down in one of the empty cells and did his best not to twitch as Stiles walked around him and left a trail of mountain ash. His skin crawled slightly as Stiles finished the circle and he was left trapped. Taking deep breaths, Isaac reminds himself that he isn't back with his father, this is nothing like the freezer.

"Hey," Stiles says quietly catching his attention, "It'll be okay."

"I know," Isaac agrees quietly taking a deep breath. "You said tonight's the night this ends anyway, right?"

"Yeah, I should probably go now, so I'll talk to you later." Stiles tells him with a small smile. 

"Stiles," Derek calls out suddenly and Isaac has to hide his smile as he watches Stiles head snap towards the alpha. He loves seeing demonstrations of how his pack member feels about his alpha. It makes him feel safe, like his pack works together as one unit. 

"Go ahead," Isaac grins. "See what he needs."

Stiles scurries over to Derek with his brow furrowed deep as he checks him over, "Derek?"

Derek says nothing only flipping over and grunting as he twists and turns in his sleep. For the most part, his violent phase has ended and now Południca is just draining his energy. Stiles winces as he sees the pale, sallow skin covering Derek's face. He wishes that he could reach out across the mountain ash and run a soothing, healing hand down across the alpha's face, but he still holds himself back and leaves the room quietly. 

"So," Lydia starts as Stiles reappears upstairs, "What do we do next?"

Stiles shakes his head as he mouths, "Not here, they can still hear us and that means she can."

Stiles exits the house with a quick check over his shoulder to ensure that Lydia and Peter are following. He walks right past his jeep instead opting to trek into the woods. When he finally reaches the point he's sure that the wolves can't hear him he stops. 

"Is it time for your magic?" Peter asks with a raised brow. "I assume that it's a part of this."

"Wait," Lydia pouts, "He knows about your magic?"

"Yeah, I used it on him this one time to make him leave me alone." Stiles laughs as he shakes his head, "We can talk about that later. Anyway the magic comes later, now we need to go to the Nemeton."

"How do you even know about that stupid tree," Lydia grumbles as they start hiking again. 

Stiles doesn't answer instead chuckling as Peter wonders aloud, "What is the Nemeton supposed to do on its own? You just said your magic comes later."

"You'll see," Stiles' response comes quietly as he smiles softly and thinks about the last Nemeton he'd been to. 

Arriving at the Nemeton, Stiles walks over to some nearby bushes and pulls out his messenger bag that'd he'd left in the bushes earlier. Peter quirks an eyebrow at him as Lydia snickers about how well prepared he is. 

"What do you need today?" Lydia asks peering over his shoulder as she stands in her tip toes. 

Peter just leans back against a tree and watches as Stiles says, "Nothing to special. What I need happens with out magic, I just need to draw a circle around the Nemeton."

"What do we need from here anyway?" Peter asks looking over at the Nemeton speculatively. 

"Did I not tell you," Stiles asks, "I could've sworn I told you!"

"Well, you didn't," Lydia snaps, "So if you could fill us In sometime soon!"

"Sorry," Stiles mumbles. "Sorry, we're here because tonight is the Eve of Kupala and that means the Fire Flower will grow tonight. The Nemeton is a source of powerful magic and it'll definitely be where the Fire Flower will grow."

"So what, we draw a circle around the area and wait for this flower?" Lydia asks sounding skeptical.

Peter snorts, "We're never that lucky."

"No," Stiles agrees, "We aren't. The flower only blooms at midnight so we only have one minute to get to it."

His voice trails off in a quiet murmur that Lydia can't hear, but causes her to be concerned when Peter curses at it. 

"What," She asks, "What else is there?"

"Demons," Peter huffs darkly. 

Lydia's face falls, "Im sorry, what?"

"You heard him," Stiles confesses. "But don't worry, they're just minor demons and won't be able to cause any physical harm. All they'll be doing is attempting to distract me from the flower."

"What happens if they do?" Lydia questions looking around as if the forest has the answers. 

Humming Stiles attempts to sound casual as he says, "If I falter or only focus on them then I die."

"What?" Lydia asks her eyes flashing in rage. "This is to dangerous!"

"It's the only way to help the pack," Peter reminds her before sending Stiles a smile, "Do try your best not to die it would be a hassle to explain to my nephew."

"Thanks Peter," Stiles answers sincerely. He knows that no matter how Peter had sounded the older wolf would actually miss him if he died. 

Clearing his mind Stiles grabs his Baggie of salt and walks around the Nemeton leaving a trail behind him. Once he's done he returns the salt to his messenger bag and walks over to where Lydia and Peter are quietly conversing. 

"Alright, it's mostly waiting from here," Stiles announces plopping down onto the ground. "It's only two and the flower still has to sprout."

"Good," Lydia says, "You can explain your magic magic to me while we wait."

Three hours later, Stiles in the middle of explaining how physics and magic work together when he feels a jolt of magic. Jerking his attention away from his rapt audience Stiles looks over into his circle. There's a vine slowly bursting out of the ground and he watches for a moment to calculate its growth speed.

"Good," Stiles purrs, "It's on time."

"The fire flower?" Peter asks. 

Stiles hums in response and then they all return to their conversation from earlier. It easily sucks them all in as Stiles explains to people who are easily as curious as he was when he first learned. They won't be able to do the magic as he he can, but it never hurts to know the theories.

Eventually, eleven fifty-five rolls around and Stiles halts their conversation so he can prepare for the trip to get the flower. Sticking his hands into his messenger bag, Stiles searches for rosemary, osha, and juniper. 

Quickly, he shoves the pouches into his pockets and makes one last trip around the salt ring to ensure its all intact. Once he's sure that it is Stiles takes a deep breath and waits. 

Finally, it's midnight and Stiles steps into the circle. Instant he's bombarded by sound and he gasps as tears prick the corners of his eyes. 

"Stiles," he hears, but he forces his legs to continue propelling him forwards. "Stiles its me."

"You aren't my mom!" He cries walking as if he were encased in jello. Slowly, his hands clenched around the pouch of rosemary and he focused on its natural properties. It affects his mind quickly, allowing him to remember all the horrifying moments of his mother's death and the real reason he is here. 

Suddenly, she's gone and his father is there in front of him. It's the same version he'd seen before when poisoned with Wolfsbane and his father screamed at him. 

"It's your fault," the Sheriff tells Stiles, "You killed your mother!"

"Maybe," Stiles agrees as he walks past him and bites into his juniper cause his father's apparition to disappear, "But it's over now."

Stiles reaches the stump of the Nemeton easily and plucks the burning fire flower with his magic knowing that if he touched it or looked at it directly it would burn him. 

Thinking that it's over, Stiles turns around to make his escape only to find his way blocked by something he thought he'd never see again. 

"Forneus," Stiles greets as he sidesteps the demon and fights of the symptoms of a panic attack. "I'm surprised you even sent the others when you could come and torture me yourself."

"Why would I spare you any pain?" Forneous purrs looming behind Stiles. 

Stiles clutches at his his pouch of osha in a poor attempt to ward off Forneus, but it does nothing. It seems it doesn't do anything to apparitions of demons. 

Stiles allows a weak laugh, "Good point. I'm sure if you were actually here, you would've already killed me."

"Yes," Forneus agrees easily, "I'd have you restrained with magic binding ropes, just like last time. Then, I'd torture you just as slow. Feeling the drag of your skin against my claws as I cut you to ribbons, that's always my favorite. This time though, I'd take you down to hell with me. There you wouldn't be able to escape and I could play with you forever."

Stiles sucks in a deep breath and finally takes his last step over the salt circle. Forneus is gone and Stiles collapses to the ground with tears dripping down his face. Behind him, floats the fire flower burning bright as it begins the process of stabilizing so that Stiles can touch it now that he's completed the trail to get it. 

"Stiles, Stiles!" He hears after he's been on the ground dry heaving for what feels like forever. 

"Stiles," Peter growls his eyes glowing blue as Stiles finally looks up. "What happened?"

"Nothing, nothing," He pants, "Just saw someone I used to know."

Peter and Lydia share a glance, but allow his evasion to slide this time. Instead they hoist him to his feet and start to drag him off. He quickly stops him and runs around to grab the fire flower out of the air. 

"What do we do with it?" Lydia asks reaching out to touch it. 

Stiles yanks his hand away, "You avoid it, it'll burn you. I, on the other hand, will use it to burn away Południca."

"When," Peter asks sounding kind of bored. 

"Later," Lydia says cutting off Stiles as he opens his mouth. She turns to him in explanation, "You need to rest."

"But the pack," Stiles mutters as he stumbles back to the pack house. 

"They can wait," Peter reassures him. 

Stiles continues his trek to the pack house and stumbles over a log. Rolling his eyes, Peter sweeps Stiles up into his arms and carries him back towards their destination. 

"I was getting tired of watching you fail to walk properly," Peter explains with a huff. 

Stiles just snuggles his face into Peter's chest, "Thanks."

Lydia watches the scene with a small smile, "I still think you're a horrible person, but you really care about him don't you?"

Peter sniff haughtily, "I care about my pack."

"You like him," She laughs before her face softens, "It's alright, you can admit it. Everyone ends up loving him eventually."

"Especially my nephew," Peter mutters but Lydia hears him and busts into laughter anyway. 

"Yeah, especially Derek."


	7. Chapter 7

Stiles wakes up quickly, in a way he never would've done before Europe. He instantly observes his surroundings, Lydia and Peter are standing there watching him and he's still clutching the fire flower, before focusing on the alarm clock.   
As he takes in that it's already ten thirty-two he shoots up but before he can bring up how he's overslept Lydia interrupts.

"You were talking in your sleep."

Scrubbing his eyes and wondering why he keeps doing this Stiles sighs, "What language this time?"

"A name, I think." Peter replies standing and stretching out his limbs as he studies Stiles discreetly. 

"Forneus," Lydia adds her eyes watching him suspiciously as he crawls out of bed. 

"That's a story for later," Stiles snorts. "I won't tell it more than once and the pack will deserve to know."

"Fine, save it then," Peter agrees flapping a hand in false boredom. "Go fix the pack."

"Of course," Stiles drawls with a mock bow. As he walks out he grumbles to himself despite knowing the wolf hear it, "As if it's that easy."

His two friends trail behind him as he takes the steps that lead down to the basement where the pack is being kept. His hand is still wrapped tightly around his burning flower as he takes his first step towards the betas. He studies them closely, not with his eyes but his magic, and ensures that they're all strong enough for the ritual. 

Stiles begins with Czeslaw, after all besides Boyd and Derek he's been affected the longest. By now the pain he was experiencing in his neck was probably a cutting sensation as Południca's tests her shears on him and prepares to decapitate him. He's shared all of the information he has (besides Stiles magic, but only because that information is warded) and therefore he's useless to her. In fact, Stiles can feel her energy in the room and he guesses that she's targeting a beta now. 

Stiles steps into the cell speaking softly as he falls back into his original magic type, "I won't be harmed."

A hum vibrates through out the room a gentle reply that seems to say it agrees with his order. Thrums with power and holding the fire flower Stiles darts towards Czeslaw. The man isn't his usual boisterous self; instead he lays on the floor of his cell and whimpers, whatever Południca is showing him must be awful. 

"Uncle," Stiles says and his voice is his own combined with another that leaks power like nothing the wolves have ever see. "Look at me!"

The man's head turns slowly and soon Czeslaws's bleeding eyes make contact with Stiles. The eye socket is surrounded with scratch marks and Stiles swallows down a gulp as he realizes he should've been here sooner. 

Then he shoves his guilt aside; he's seen worse and dealt with it, emotions won't help him do that now. Instead, Stiles focuses on what he can do now. 

"Sit up Uncle," Stiles commands and the large man clambers to his knees.

Staring down at his friend, Stiles takes a deep breath before taking the burning flower and slamming it into Czeslaw's forehead. The man screams and the noise causes the possessed pack members to react with flashing fangs and eyes. Only Peter remains completely unaffected, while Lydia looks nauseous at the smell of burning flesh. 

"What are you doing to him?" She cries but Stiles doesn't answer. 

Instead that magical voice reappears as Stiles speaks, "Purge, Heal."

The mountain ash circle (this one draw for Czeslaw's protection) fills with purple smoke that Stiles doesn't choke on. It rushes around his uncle and when Stiles peels the Fire Flower back it rushes into his wound. 

Taking a step back, Stiles scrapes away the mountain ash so that when the smoke disappears Peter can come and assist him. 

"What was that," Peter asks his eyes narrowed. "It practically bled power, nothing like before you left."

Lydia's eyes are wide as she looks between the two of them for answers. Stiles ignores her and focuses on Peter.

"It's like I said," Stiles murmurs his voice returning to normal, "I've learned a few things. That includes gaining access the powers of the Fae kingdom." 

Peter laughs, "Why am I not surprised you've got friends there?"

"Not just that," Stiles smiles toothily, "Family, though distant."

Then he turns to the next wolf and begins work. He does Boyd, Isaac, Scott and Erica quickly and professionally before approaching Derek cautiously. Erica's own ritual had already knocked him onto his feet with Derek there was likely to be more backlash due to the sheer power that Południca would have put into subduing someone as stubborn. 

"We will all be safe," Stiles commands his voice magic and silky once more. "This won't harm any of us."

Stiles walks forwards and begins the exact same ritual he had with the others. However, this time when Stiles presses the flower to Derek, he chants unfamiliar words and Południca appears besides him. Opting not to look at her, Stiles simply whispers a word and she bursts into flames. With a victorious smirk Stiles yanks the flower from Derek's skin and continues the ritual. The purple smoke fills with circle easily and Stiles is thinking that his magic worked correctly when the world goes black. 

When Stiles awakens someone is holding his hand and he can feel the mixture of emotions they're experiencing. It's a bitter concoction of fear, confusion, anger, and affection. 

The last part Stiles doesn't understand, but the rest he does. If someone he considered an unofficial pack mate had hid his magic, he would be furious. Wondering who exactly is holding his hand, Stiles peels his eyes open. 

Derek is sitting right next to him looking worried even as he attempts to peel his hand out of Stiles, "Hey there, how do you feel?"

"Don't go," Stiles mutters grabbing Derek's retreating hand and pulling it close. 

Derek hums softly and leans down to press a kiss to Stiles' forehead, "I'll stay."

Nodding to himself, Stiles allows his eyes to drift closed as he focuses on the soft affection he can feel. It doesn't take long before he's lost to the world once again. 

Forcing his eyes open, Stiles whispers to himself, "I'll stay awake this time."

The rush of magic flows down throughout him and suddenly Stiles is completely awake. He peers around happily and isn't very surprised to find the entire pack crowded in his room though, the sight of Dr. Deaton was a shock. 

"Why are you here?" Stiles asks as he lets go of the hand he's still holding and pushes his body so that he's sat upright. 

Deaton studies him carefully, "Your pack was worried, you suffered a magical over load."

Stiles hums, "Yeah, I made a mistake with the spell, didn't account for the backlash of the flower itself. Anyway, that didn't answer me, why are you here and not my uncle, he's more familiar with my magic."

"He's recovering," Derek tells him running a hand over Stiles' hair soothingly. "Południca got to him pretty badly."

"Yeah," Stiles whines unhappily, "That makes sense."

"While we wait," Deaton starts an attracts the pack's attention, "You can explain to me how you're a fully powered Spellbinder when last I saw you there was barely a spark of magic."

Stiles chuckle happily, "I already knew how to mask my magic by then."

"What?" Scott yelps, "You mean you had magic before you left!"

"Yes," Stiles admits his face darkening, "And before you ask why I didn't tell you, I couldn't. I didn't know enough about what I could do and I was scared."

"Terrified, I would say," Peter chimes in from where he's leaned against a wall. 

Surprisingly when a growl rips through the air it's not Scott's but Derek's, "Peter knew? Peter?"

Stiles nods, "Well yeah, but only because I lost control and used it on him when he started to question me. Him finding out is actually why I fled to Poland." Stiles explains, "It helped me figure out that i needed to learn better control."

"You still need to tell us everything," Lydia reminds him and Stiles nods. 

"I know, but not with Deaton here." The vet looks affronted and Stiles opts to explain himself. "While I'm going to summarize the whole thing there's at least one story you all need to know about me. It's pretty personal and I'd rather only have pack hear it."

"Very well," Deaton sniffs and he grabs his supplies to go let himself out. "Feel better soon Stiles."

"Thanks," Stiles mutters before turning towards his pack. "You may want to sit down, it's a long story."

The pack settles around the room and Stiles takes a breath, "All right, I suppose I'll start with when I left."

"That's probably a good idea," Peter says, "These children aren't the brightest."

"When the alpha pack had Boyd and Erica captive and Scott and Derek went to save them, I followed them to the bank. The reason Boyd and Erica weren't feral and didn't attack you two was because I used magic to stop them. I ran back home after that and I tried to forget about the whole thing. Unfortunately, I couldn't do that because Peter figured out I'd done somethings and he cornered me."

"Still not sorry about that," Peter grins looking only slightly homicidal. 

Stiles returns his look, "I don't need you to be, I think the magic I used to keep you from saying anything is enough revenge."

Peter nods, "Oh good, but I feel as though I should keep an eye on you."

"You should," Stiles agrees. "Anyway, I left for Poland the next morning and met up with Uncle Czeslaw. He taught me how to properly channel and use my magic. He introduced me to some distant relatives of mine from the Fae kingdom who finished up my training. Then we spent the next two years acting as sorts of supernatural monitors. We traveled around Europe and helped out whoever needed it."

"Alright," Lydia says, "But none of that is why you sent Deaton away."

"You're right," Stiles agrees absentmindedly as his hand searches for Derek's. "I sent him away so I could tell you guys about Forneus."

 

"What," Scott questions not waiting for Stiles' explanation.

Derek rolls his eyes, "Maybe if you don't interrupt him, Stiles can tell us."

"Listen closely, I'll only say this once." Stiles instructs before launching into his story. 

\----

He's nervous as he walks up to a large mansion and knocks on the door. Not only is this the first time his uncle has let him go deal with a problem alone (though Stiles is almost always taking the lead Czeslaw is always there watching), but it's also his first contact with a werewolf pack since he left Beacon Hills two and a half years ago. 

The door is ripped open almost instantly and Stiles nods as he recognizes the face before him, "Alpha Nowack."

"Spellbinder, I'm glad you're here, please come in." The alpha days opening the door wide enough for Stiles to enter. 

As they seat themselves Stiles finally asks what he's been wondering, "Why have you called for my help?"

The alphas smile quickly disappears and is replaced with pure grief, "Something has killed three of my pack members. We found them in the forest, their bodies mutilated after death and the clearing smelling of brimstone and sulfur."

Stiles eyes darken, "Sulfur and brimstone, are you sure?"

"Yes, why?" Nowack says slowly, "Do you know what it is?"

"Demons," Stiles whispers his eyes darting around right as the house begins to shake. "You need to run, now. I'll hold them off!"

The Alpha does as he's instructed and retrieves his remaining pack mates before leaving Stiles. He winces as he heads out front to deal with the demons, but he isn't surprised his orders have been followed. An alpha's first priority will always be his pack.

Stiles exits the building woefully unprepared for demons all he had for protection are verbal spells and he knows that it won't be enough to protect him. He's right, soon enough he's surrounded by an army of demons most of which flicker between human and their natural forms. He desperately wishes he'd learnt an exorcism before. 

"Who are you," one of them asks smiling and revealing sharp teeth. "You have quite a bit of magic."

"Yes, I do," Stiles grins before sending a ball of deadly energy towards the demon. "Have a taste."

It hits the demon, but the only affect is that he stumbles backwards laughing, "You sure are feisty, I like that. You can live."

The demons swarm around him and soon enough Stiles is overpowered and loses consciousness. Fortunately, before he's all the way under he pulses out a one word message to his uncle. Demons. 

When Stiles awakens he's unsure of where he is and his first instinct is to all out with his magic. He's terrified to find that he can't reach his magic at all, he's been cut off from it. 

"Hello there, Spellbinder is it? Can I call you Stiles? I'm gonna call you Stiles." The demon says. "I'm Forneus by the way."

Stiles isn't really focusing on his name, not when he still can't access his magic and the demons is holding a knife perilously close to his stomach. 

"Oh you look scared," Forneus huffs, "Good. That means your magic binding ropes are working and you'll feel everything I put your way."

"Please," Stiles gasps, "Put the knife down."

Forneus hums and throws the knife behind him, "You're right. I don't need it."

Tears of relief drip down Stiles face only to turn into full blown sobs as Forneus says, "I'll just use my claws."

The demon stabs his claws into Stiles stomach and drags them across. He smiles as the heavy scent of blood fills the air and Stiles whimpers. 

After that days seem to run together and Stiles is left in a constant state of pain and confusion. He tries all the time to reach his magic but he never can. Dimly, he wonders what kind of disuse backlash there will be when he finally regains use of it. Then he wonders if perhaps he'll die before it can happen. 

He doesn't die. Czeslaw comes and rescues him from Forneus with one perfectly timed exorcism. With the head demon gone and more dens streaming into the room, Czeslaw unties Stiles. 

All the excess pent up magic that Stiles hasn't been able to reach flows through him suddenly and Stiles sends it out in one large blast that destroys, not exorcises them but destroys them, every demon with in a twenty mile radius. 

"Is he gone," Stiles asks as he drops to his knees.

Czeslaw nods once and Stiles goes out like a light.

\----

"Later, I learned that i'd been held captive for three months." Stiles admits. "After that is when Uncle Czeslaw and I made plans to come back to the states. I didn't want to die with out seeing my father again."

"I need to go," Isaac announces looking pale and running out of the room. 

Wincing as he remembered Isaac's own father and his version of torture Stiles looks to Erica and Boyd, "Go after him."

They obey easily enough, though Erica stops to press a kiss to his cheek before leaving. 

A cursory glance around the room reveals that Peter, Lydia, Scott, Kira, and Derek still remain and Stiles smiles at them warmly, "Go guys, all I'm going to be doing is sleeping a for a little while, you don't need to stay here."

"But Stiles," Scott cries and he looks completely wrecked. Kira comes and places a comforting hand on his shoulder before escorting him away. The pair is followed closely by Lydia and Peter though the former sends a worried look back at him. 

"I'm staying," Derek growls squeezing his hand when Stiles turns to look at him. "I won't leave an injured pack mate alone."

"Are you sure that's why," Stiles teases, "Here I was hoping you just wanted some alone time with me."

Derek smiles softly and leans forwards to rub his face in the crooks of Stiles' neck and growl happily, "Maybe that too."

Laughing, Stiles places a hand on the side of Derek's face, "I missed you."

"Yeah," Derek asks his voice ruff as he leans in, "Well you scared the shit out of me when you fainted, so I'd say we're even."

Then suddenly the two of them are kissing and its desperate and wanting even as its gentle and curious. Their lips slot together perfectly and asStiles sighs into the kiss he thinks to himself, this is where I belong.


End file.
